Tourist Visa / Requirements for my Mom in the Philippines

[Magenta Moon 0]

 

 

Thank you in advance.

Hello Everyone, 

 

           I am currently waiting for my Condition of Removal (Permanent Green card). Been here for 3years and 4 months to be exact. I had my Bio metrics 1 month ago still not received the extension paper of my Green Card. I have multiple questions about this matter and also for my mom (From the Philippines to apply for a Tourist Visa)

 

1. Does the extension visa take longer for them to send it to me or it varies which state I was in?

2. What are the possibilities that I need to  expect if it doesn't arrived for another month?

 

For my mom's case. We have not started any steps for her to apply a Tourist Visa as I will need to do the searching, reading and sort of preparations. I am not working in the U.S. I am a plain housewife. My husband is a property management owner. We owned multiple properties like Rentals and we managed these properties by ourselves. That is enough to keep ourselves busy. Also, these where our monthly income coming from. Building our Bed in Breakfast is our current project at the moment. But I missed my home. My husband and I was in the Philippines 2 years ago. I think we have this pattern of going to take vacation in the Philippines every after two years now due to concern about of business falling down without our presence. That is okay for me. Petition is an option too but for now that is impossible to happen. It takes time and it takes commitment that I think my mom don't have.  But we decided lately that letting my mom to visit us will ease my home sickness. I want her to stay here only for 1month. My husband is going to be the sponsor We are planning to start her Tourist Visa Process late summer next year around May or June. So I myself are searching for a very practical ways for her to get approved. Here is her background;

 

*She is 56yrs old.

*She has a big Goiter on her left neck which I plan to examine here.

* She has not been outside of the country that means her passport doesn't have any stamps

* She is renting an apartment with my siblings 2 siblings for 2 or 3 years now. The Lease is under her name.

* She is currently working as a Labor Consultant "Managing the SSS, TAX, Health Care of the employees of couple companies" She's been working on those company for 4-5 years.

* She doesn't own anything, no cars, no house.

* She has 5 children. 2 are my step sister ages 37 and 34. Then me and my two young borther. One is 26 and just graduated from College and now working and an 18years old that is about to graduate on April 2018. My two brothers are living with my mom. My two step sisters are already have their own families.

* She was married once. 37 years ago. 

*She was not married to my Father.

*She don't have any bank account (But my husband and I are willing to make her one)

 

 

These are pretty much her background. Any advice will pretty much appreciated. 

 

Here are my questions about her upcoming Tourist Visa Application.

 

1. Since she doesnt have a bank account; I will let her open one in the following month. I will just send her money through Western Union. Does the account she needs to open needs to be a Dollar or Pesos account?

2. I am aware that a bank account of the applicant needs to have at least $12,000 (Half a Million Pesos) is this true? I have thought that is too much exaggeration. One of the forum I have read here in Visa Journey only put ($3,000) or (P150,000) on her mom's account. Is that going to justify her expenses per se?

3. What kind of background checking does the VO do before my mom shows up?

4. They say confident is the key no matter what your requirements are, how come?

5. How long the Tourist Visa process is gonna take (For me to have an estimation when to start)

6. How long it takes to petition a Mother from the Philippines?

 

 

 

Edited July 10, 2017 by Magenta Moon
mis spelling

[Boiler 45,941]

She applies, nothing to do with you.

 

If she does not apply then obviously chance is nil, you do not paint a rosy picture but let us know how she gets on. Last time I recollect the timeline to get an interview was about a month.

 

I would assume medical treatment in PI would be much cheaper than the US, have you looked into the cost here.

 

You have to be citizen to sponsor her to immigrate.

[Magenta Moon 0]

Thank you for your quick response. Yes, I thought about saving a lot of money if her operation is going to happened in P.I.  I want my mom to try a natural medicine here and condition her body for a month so I can decide where her operation is going to be and the fact that I don't trust conventional medicine is also a concern.

 

[RO_AH 1,662]

As the previous poster said the tourist visa is all up to your mom. There is no sponsorship, and you and your husband have nothing to do with her application. When she applies they will automatically assume that she has an intent to migrate rather than just visit. Her job is to prove strong enough ties in the Philippines to return. Some of the things (like her work) are a help. The fact that she has no assets or bank account and also no spouse will make it much more difficult. There is no magic number as far as bank balance that she needs to have so I am not sure where you got that information. People quite often will try to set up a bank account and put a bunch of money in there to seem like there are assets. I have a friend that did that (for a Filipina) and the tourist visa was rejected. I'm not trying to get you down or give you bad news, but a tourist visa is very difficult for Filipino's.

 

As for sending money to the Philippines WU is probably the most expensive, I used to use LBC for remittance but have since switched to Remitly by the advice of others on this site. You can send for pick up or directly to the bank account. If you will be sending a large sum make that your first transaction because on my first transaction the give you a really high exchange rate (about 1 point higher) I was foolish and only sent 100 USD my first time not knowing that it was just an introductory rate. However even at their normal rate it is still better than others I have used. You pay a small fee for express, but if you go the slow route (for me takes 5 days to complete transaction) there is no service fee at all. You can install the app on your phone and it is very convenient to use.

 

I wish I had better news for your mom, I wish you the best of luck.

[Magenta Moon 0]

RO-AH, that is very strong statement. We have no problem of using Western Union since that is what we have been using for 4 years now. I'm not trying to send a large money at once because "they" said the VO will know that from the bank transaction which will make it pretty obvious that my mom really wants to come to the U.S. 

 

Also, I am not loosing hope since I have not started yet. My friend in Oregon, her mom passed the Tourist Visa without having anything. Isn't that weird? I've known Mom's that passed Visa that is less than capable than my mom in my opinion. Also, my mom is working and her mom is not. I think it all comes down to really "it depends on the confident of the applicant". Thank you so much for your answer. I really appreciate and will take note of that. Do you by chance know how long it will take to petition my mom just in case we changed our plan of getting her a Visa?

Edited July 10, 2017 by Magenta Moon
mis spelled

[Boiler 45,941]

Once you are a citizen about a year.

[RO_AH 1,662]

6 hours ago, Magenta Moon said:

RO-AH, that is very strong statement.

I'm not sure what part was a strong statement I could try to clarify.

6 hours ago, Magenta Moon said:

We have no problem of using Western Union since that is what we have been using for 4 years now.

You won't have any problems with WU and if you are happy with them that is good. I was just pointing out that there are less expensive options that also provide great service.

 

Also earlier you asked if you should open a peso or USD account. I think for the purposes of establishing assets and financial ability for tourist visa a peso account wold be best.

6 hours ago, Magenta Moon said:

Also, I am not loosing hope since I have not started yet. My friend in Oregon, her mom passed the Tourist Visa without having anything. Isn't that weird? I've known Mom's that passed Visa that is less than capable than my mom in my opinion. Also, my mom is working and her mom is not. I think it all comes down to really "it depends on the confident of the applicant".

She does have age in her favor, if she were your age it would be much much harder. Confidence helps for sure but I think a lot depends on the interviewer as well. Like I said earlier their policy is to assume everyone has immigrant intent until the applicant proves otherwise.

 

As for a lot of your other questions It could be good to post in the Philippines regional section on this site as there are some very helpful and knowledgeable members who post/reply there pretty much daily and have a lot of info as it concerns Philippines specific issues. 

[Magenta Moon 0]

Thank you RO-AH, as I am a newbie here. I don't know hot to post this on Philippines instead. Could you please tell me how?

[Umka36 781]

VJ admin folks can move this posting there.

[RO_AH 1,662]

23 hours ago, Magenta Moon said:

Thank you RO-AH, as I am a newbie here. I don't know hot to post this on Philippines instead. Could you please tell me how?

Here is a direct link to the Philippines regional forum.

 

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/forum/129-philippines/